My servant I despatched to Monterey, Gabriel to the nearest village of the Apaches, and as it was proper, according to Indian ideas, that I should be out of the way during the ceremonies, so as not to influence any chief, I retired with Roche to the boat-house, to pass the time until the new moon.
Upon the day agreed upon, we were all once more assembled at the council-ground on the shores of the Buona Ventura, The chiefs and elders of the tribe had assumed a solemn demeanour, and even the men of dark deeds (the Medecins) and the keepers of the sacred lodges had made their appearance, in their professional dresses, so as to impress upon the beholders the importance of the present transaction.

One of the sacred lodge first arose, and making a signal with his hand, prepared to speak:-- "Shoshones," said he, "now has come the time in which out nation must either rise above all others, as the eagle of the mountains rises above the small birds, or sink down and disappear from the surface of the earth.

Had we been left such as we were before the Pale-faces crossed the mountains, we would have needed no other help but a Shoshone heart and our keen arrows to crush our enemies; but the Pale-faces have double hearts as well as a double tongue; they are friends or enemies as their thirst for wealth guides them.

They trade with the Shoshones, but they also trade with the Crows and the Umbiquas.

The young chief, Owato Wanisha, hath proposed a new path to our tribe; he is young, but he has received his wisdom from the Black-gowns, who, of all men, are the most wise.